Distilling column



F. E. LICHTENTHAELER.

DISTILLING COLUMN.

APPLICATION FILED MAYB. 19l8.

11, ,%@& 1L T/S Patented Aug. L 192% 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

I A I wanna F. E. LICHTENTHAELER.

DISTILLING COLUMN.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8. 1918.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.,

1AQQ=A7SO 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UWT STATS FRANK E. LICHTENTHAELEQ, OF NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB,

TO THE WALTER E. LUIVIIVIUS COMPANY, 015 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPO- RATION 0F MASSAGHUSETETS.

DISTILLING COlLUll/IN.

llAiQdJWS.

Application filed May 8, 1918.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. LICHTEN- THAELER. a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton Highlands, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Distilling Columns: and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven' tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to towers or columns for use in chemical or physical processes. Many chemical and physical processes require the material being treated or the active agent or both to pass through a tower or column comprising a series of chambers, more or less similar in character, in each of which some part of the treatment occurs. Such towers are commonly employed in the processes of evaporation, absorption, scrubbing, distillation and other similar multi-stage processes.

For example, in the distillation of alcohol, which may be taken as typical of the various multi-stage processes, a tower or column is used having a series of horizontal partitions or decks which divide the column into cham' bers. Each deck is provided with one or more boiling or atomizing hoods and return drips, thus forming a unit which performs one stage in the process of distillation, as is well known in the art. It has been a com mon practice to build these columns by superimposing the required number of similar unit sections, each consisting of a cylindrical wall or casing with attaching flanges at each end and a transverse partition or deck at one end, all integrally formed in a single casting. This method of construction has proved satisfactory for columns of small diameter, but, owing to the high cost of large diameter patterns and castings as well as to certain structural disadvantages, is not adapted for use in connection with the lar er diameter columns.

ther methods of construction of these lar e diameter columns have been tried, but while avoiding some of the disadvantages of the prior integral unit sectional construction, have introduced other objectionable features such as increased opportunity for leakage or lack of sufiicient strength.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 233,247.

The object of the present invention is to provide a tower of the general character described which is particularly adapted for use where a relatively large diameter is required and which is efficient in operation, strong, and less expensive to build than those at present in use. With these objects in view the present invention consists of the arrangements and combinations of devices hereinafter described and more particularly for supporting the partitions, one from the other, and for adjusting the levels of the partitions.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate what is now considered to be the preferred form of the present invention as embodied in a distilling tower,

Figure l is an elevation of the column; Flg. 2 is a central vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the column shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig.4 is an enlarged detail view showing a modified form of the invention; Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the invention adapted for use in a wooden structure; and Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the means for adjusting the level of wooden decks.

The present invention contemplates the construction of a tower built in sections or units, each section consisting of an outer casing which contains as many chambers as may be desired, and superimposing these sections until the desired height is reached; The column may, of course, consist of but a single section of the same construction. The casings of the units are hollow cylinders, and a convenient and inexpensive form of casing is a standard bell-mouthed iron pipe section of the desired diameter. In the con: struction shown in Fig. 1, the column comprises two unit sections having the outer casings 10 and 11 of bell-mouthed pipe, a cap casting 12, and a base 13. The base 13 may contain heating coils and other devices Patented Aug. ll, 1922..

commonly used in the distillation of alcohol.

The joint or connection between the sections The upper pipe 11 rests on the margin of partition 15, and the joints'between the partition and the ends of the pipe sections are made gas tight by calking in the usual manner with lead or other material as indicated at 16, the single calking preventing leakage both above and below the deck or partition.

The deck 15, being firmly supported by the casing, is employed to support a plurality of other decks 17 which together with deck 15 are provided with the usual boiling or atomizing h0ods19 and return drips 20. Only two of the atomizing hoods 19 are shown complete in Fig. 2, one in elevation and the other in vertical section. The decks are spaced the desired distance apart and in the proper angular relation by means of adjustable supporting devices shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 4, which comprise a i'pe 21 threaded at its bottom into a hole in the lower deck and provided at its top with a cap 22 upon which rests the next deck above. By turning the pipes 21 in the threaded holes in which they are supported, the caps can be adjusted vertically so that when the next higher deck is placed in position it will have the desired height and position with relation to .he other decks. In order to secure the decks of each unit rigidly together, a tie rod 23 is passed through all the decks of each unit inside the pipes 21 and is provided at its ends with washers 24 and 25 and nuts 26 and 27 In order to provide a liquid and gas-tight joint between the edge of each deck and the wall of the casing, calking is inserted as shown at 28, the edges of the decks 17 being beveled to receive it.

It is desirable that means be provided for draining the liquid from each deck when the operation of the column is to be discontinued. For this purpose drain pipes 29 are threaded into holes through the casing at the level of the top of each of the decks 17 Such a drain pipe is not practicable for the deck 15 on account of the bell-mouth of the caslng. A drain plug 30 is therefore provlded in the deck 15 which is accessible through a hand hole 31 in the outer casing normally closed by the cover 32. Thus the liquid remaining on the deck 15 may be drained onto the deck below and thence through the drain cock 29.

A modified form of casing is shown in Flg. 4 having outer connecting flanges 34 at each end and an inner supporting flange 35 adjacent the lower end. In this constructlon the deck 15 rests upon the inwardly projecting shoulder or flange 35 to which it is secured by cap screws 36. The crack between the periphery of the deck and the casing is calked as indicated at 37 and a drain ipe 29 is provided as has been described in connection with the decks 17. The other decks of the section are supported from the deck 15 as has been described.

When the invention is embodied in a column of wooden construction, it is desirable that the form of the deck supporting members he modified to some extent. Referring to Figs. 5 and 6 the lowermost deck 40 consists of two thicknesses of wood w1th grains crossed to which a foot 41 is secured by bolts. Washers 42 are provided to pre-' vent crushing the fiber of the wood. The foot 41 is screw-threaded to receive one end of a pipe 43 the upper end of which 1s screwed into a flanged cap 44 which supports the next deck 45.

The level of the deck 45 is most conveniently adjusted by turning the cap 44 while the deck is in place thereon. For this purpose the cap is Provided with a slotted hub 46 (shown in plan in Fig. 6) which is seated in a hole 47 in the deck and by which the cap may be turned by a suitable tool while the decks are being assembled. The subsequent decks are supported, each from the deck below, by similar supporting members WlllCh, however, are not necessarily bolted to the lower decks, as the feet 41 may be provided with a point 48 to prevent rotation when the caps are turned for the urpose of adjusting the level of the decks. he several decks are held rigidly in adjusted position by a tie rod 49 passing through holes in the caps and feet and threaded into the hole in the lowermost foot. The upper end of the rodis provided with a nut 50 by which all the parts may be securely clamped.

From the description thus far it will be observed that the present invention contemplates a tower made up of a few individual elongated casings, to thereby reduce to a minimum the number of posssible vapor joints leading to the exterior of the tower. In this way vapor leakage is reduced to a minimum. In practice casings of from six to twelve foot lengths are employed and within the casings the individual decks subdividing the interior of the tower into a'plurality of fluid tight compartments, are supported in the above described manner without necessitating the formation of additional vapor joints other than those between adjacent tower sections and which joints, as has been described, are so few as to practically eliminate vapor leakage.

A column for use in the distillation of alcohol has been described as an example of the multi-stage processes in connection with which the present invention may be employed but it is to be understood that the ea save particular chemical or physical process performed forms no part of the invention, it being adaptable for use in many processes by slight changes in construction and the addition of equipment well known to those skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that changes may be made in the form and arrangement of parts within the skill of the artisan without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed as new, is

1. A tower for distillation and similar processes having, in combination, an outer casing, a plurality of transverse decks adapted to divide the interior of the casing into compartments, means for supporting one of the decks, and means cooperating with the other decks and arranged so that the latter are supported by the first mentioned deck.

2. An elongated tower for distillation and similar processes comprising superposed elongated casings of a length from six to twelve feet made of single casings and having no joints on their lateral surfaces, a

plurality of partitions within the casings dividing the casings into a series of fluid tight compartments, means for supporting one of the partitions in each casing from the interior of the casing, and means for support ing the remaining partitions from the first mentioned partition, whereby the only vapor jointsleading to without the tower consist in the relatively few joints between adjacent elongated casings.

3. A tower for distillation and similar processes comprising a plurality of superposed outer cylindrical casings of a length from six to twelve feet each having a bellmouth at one end, a transverse partition between adjacent casing sections with its marginal portion located in the bell-mouth of one casing and engaged by the end of the adjacent casing, means for packing the bellmouth to provide fluid tight joints, and a plurality of other transverse partitions subdividing each casing in a plurality of fluid tight compartments supported within the casing from the first mentioned partition.

FRANK E. LICHTENTHAELER. 

